Kwikwetlem chief got massive salary in part by abandoning land claim and taking 10% of $8M payout

Ron Giesbrecht, the chief of an 85-member First Nation who ranked as Canada’s highest-paid politician last year, collected most of his nearly $1-million income by abandoning a land claim in exchange for an $8-million payment from the Province of B.C.

Rough details of the arrangement were revealed to the National Post by the B.C. Ministry of Finance, which said the Kwikwetlem First Nation was paid to “extinguish” future claims on a plot of Crown land that was being sold off by the province.

Mr. Giesbrecht collected a 10% bonus amounting to $800,000 thanks to his dual role as the economic development officer for the band.

Despite Mr. Giesbrecht’s prior claims that the deal could not be publicized because of a non-disclosure agreement, the Ministry said the province “could release the details of the agreement if the First Nation agree”— provided the document checks out with the Freedom of Information Act.

In a statement to the National Post Tuesday, Kwikwetlem authorities refused to make any comment related to the $8-million deal, maintaining that “the transaction remains subject to a non-disclosure agreement.”

“Ensuring a level of transparency while also respecting the confidentiality of these arrangements is a broader issue for First Nations,” the statement added.

The chief did not respond to requests for an interview.

On Monday, Ron Jackman, the unofficial spokesman for Kwikwetlem members opposed to Mr. Giesbrecht’s leadership, said he was turned away by band administrators after questioning them about the $8-million being tied to an extinguished land claim.

“They’re shutting me down,” he said. “Now they’re saying they can’t give me any information without the membership’s say-so and without the chief and council’s say-so.”

Last month, a new federal law required the salaries of chiefs and band councillors to be posted on the Internet. The figures revealed that Mr. Giesbrecht collected $914,219 for 2013-14 — effectively making him the highest-paid elected official in Canadian history.

In an Aug. 1 statement, the Kwikwetlem band office explained that much of the income was due to an $800,000 payment stemming from “an agreed 10% bonus for economic development contracts for the Kwikwetlem First Nation.”

The 10% bonus was written into the economic development officer contract long before Mr. Giesbrecht took over the position last year, although band members did not appear to be aware of its existence.

In the hours after Mr. Giesbrecht’s salary was revealed, the nation’s only two councillors, Ed Hall and Marvin Joe, both said they did not know of the arrangement, or the six-figure bonus.

“Nobody here gets 10% of anything significantly large like that — it just doesn’t happen,” Mr. Hall told the National Post at the time.

The bonus provisions were removed in April, according to a Kwikwetlem statement.

Neither the province nor the Kwikwetlem would specify what parcel of land is at the centre of the $8-million deal, although it is likely Burke Mountain, a 236-hectare plot of land near the Kwikwetlem reserve.

The province sold the land last year as part of an austerity-driven liquidation of “surplus assets.” As the Burke Mountain lands are untreatied, B.C. would have been legally bound to address any aboriginal claim to the land before turning it over to a private buyer.

In unrelated filings before the British Columbia Utilities Commission in 2010, the Kwikwetlem claimed that Burke Mountain was home to “spiritual sites” as a well as traditional hunting and berry picking sites.

After the deal closed last year, Kwikwetlem band members have told the National Post that they each received checks for $10,000. Mr. Jackman said an accompanying letter mentioned the pending Burke Mountain development.

Last week, reacting against calls that he should resign, Mr. Giesbrecht released a statement saying that he retains full support of 53 of 57 voting Kwikwetlem members — and launched a YouTube channel filled with video testimonials from supporters.

“He has basically taken our First Nation from nothing to everything we have today,” said Mr. Giesbrecht’s brother, Randy.

Since Mr. Giesbrecht’s income became public, even dissident members have acknowledged that the past few years have seen major economic and social gains, including the construction of a new on-reserve housing complex.

Nevertheless, critics allege that Mr. Giesbrecht is taking undue credit for work done by previous leaders.

“It is sad to see this embarrassment of a chief take away from not only the elders who have lived through so much but also the young ones we fight for everyday who will need to continue on with the efforts we have begun,” said on-reserve member Nancy Joe in an email to the National Post.

“We were taught that as a chief and council you do not accept praise — or money — for something that is expected of you which is to look out for one another and do what is right for everyone.”